While e-learning use has skyrocketed over the past few years, there are still people who aren’t sure it’s a fit for their needs. They don’t want to just follow trends—they want to make an informed decision based on how this format can help them meet their company’s goals. Whether you’re trying to convince your organisation to change its approach to training, advising a client to try something new, or just determining for yourself where e-learning fits in what you have to offer, a good business case can help everyone involved feel confident in their decisions.

To get the discussion started, check out these seven talking points about the benefits of e-learning over in-person training. These guidelines are a good place to begin building your unique business case and can help you get the buy-in you need.

 

1. You can build once, deliver often

One of the clearest benefits to using e-learning is the time and cost savings from how courses run. Once you’ve developed a course, you can deliver it online as many times as you like, with minimal additional expenses or time. This not only reduces overall training costs, but also frees up your learning and development team so they can focus on creating new training content and expanding what you're able to offer employees. 

 

2. People can learn anywhere

Bringing people together in one place has logistical challenges, like choosing the best location, booking classroom space and arranging for travel. Finding good solutions takes time and money—especially if your learners work remotely or internationally. But because e-learning can be taken anywhere, it completely removes these challenges from your workload.

 

3. And learn anytime

Timing can also complicate in-person training. Finding a date and time that works for every learner isn’t always easy. And even with careful scheduling, attendees may have to miss part of the knowledge because of a meeting or call that can’t be moved. But with e-learning, your learners can take their training whenever is best for them. And with the flexibility to take it all at once or in multiple short bursts, people can choose the approach that’s easiest for them to manage and most comfortable for how they want to learn.

 

4. You can avoid scheduling problems

Life can sometimes get in the way of live training—whether it’s a facilitator calling out sick, a learner with a last-minute schedule change, or bad weather that makes travel to your training location difficult. With e-learning, though, these issues disappear. And since learners can take it whenever and wherever works best for them, if another priority comes up, they can simply pause their learning and come back to it later.

 

5. It helps collect valuable data

E-learning also gives you simple ways to collect data and assess if your content is having the desired impact. Pairing e-learning with an all-in-one training system, a Learning Management System (LMS), or a Learning Record Store (LRS) simplifies data collection thanks to the reporting features. 

These platforms typically include enrolment and completion data. But some of them go even further, helping you see how learners perform throughout the course and even identifying content or questions they consistently struggle with. And that targeted information can help you further refine and improve your course.

 

6. It’s easy for people to revisit content

Even with the best of courses, it’s hard for people to remember everything afterward. But you can help content stick by making it easy for learners to go back and reference it again later. This is where e-learning shines, by making it simple and speedy to revisit course information. So if your workers need a memory jog while processing a customer call or performing a new task, all they have to do is pull up a past course to get in-the-moment help.

 

7. It makes the learning experience more consistent

In-person learning experiences can vary depending on the facilitator and attendee group. Different approaches to facilitation can make the content land differently. And a side-track in one part of the class could mean the facilitator needs to rush through content later so the course ends on time.

However, e-learning gives learners a consistent experience every time. So you can ensure everyone learns the same information and skills in the same way.

 

Wrap-Up

As you can see, e-learning has many benefits, both for training specifically and for your organisation overall. By emphasising how scalable, flexible, and cost-effective this format is, you can help clients or stakeholders see all the ways it can address their specific business priorities.

 

Amanda Nielsen 

Customer Engagement Manager, Articulate